Hearst Castle is a castle built by American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951). It is located in the northwest of Los Angeles, facing the Pacific Ocean and backed by rolling green mountains. In 1957, five years after the death of William Randolph Hearst, the Hearst Company donated Hearst Castle to the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Hearst's descendants still live in the mountains near the castle.
Hirst once built the largest publishing and media empire in the United States. At the height of his career, he owned twenty-six newspapers, thirteen national publications, eight radio stations and many other news media ventures. In addition, he has supervised numerous newsreels and almost a hundred feature films. During his lifetime, he purchased many fine art and precious antiques from all over the world and carefully furnished his property to display these treasures.
The estate of the castle was purchased by Hirst's father in 1865. In the 1870s, Hirst and his father used the land as their campground. Hearst continued the camping tradition with his wife, Millician, and their five sons, and the estate became their main residence.
The castle was built in 1919 and lasted intermittently for twenty-eight years. The architect of the castle is Julia Morgan from San Francisco. There are five buildings in the castle. The design of the castle has outstanding Mediterranean architectural features, with its stucco walls, red tile roofs and colorful ceramic tiles, which have a strong style of old buildings in Spain, Mexico and California. There are a large number of works of art in the castle, including oil paintings, statues, tapestries, porcelain, silverware and furniture, etc., which are mainly from Italy and Spain.
There is a long, single-story building at the foot of the mountain called the Hearst Castle Visitor Center. There are ancient castle museums, some small shops and toilets and other facilities. Take a break there, check the tickets and enter the station, and take the tour bus up the mountain. Everyone has to take a photo before getting on the bus, and you can take it when you go down the mountain. A photo is 20 dollars, you can don't, and the entrance fee is 18 dollars.
Along the winding mountain trails, it takes about ten minutes to arrive at the castle by car. A middle-aged male tour guide gave explanations while walking, and a staff member with a big beard and a big straw hat followed everyone to supervise the tourists to obey the rules. Do not walk on the carpet that is laid on another floor, and do not step on the original floor and carpet of the owner, and do not touch the statues, marble pillars, doors and windows, and all the artworks on display.
The Neptune swimming pool on the left side of the castle is very charming. One of the reasons Hearst built the castle was to receive his guests here. Many of his friends like this "Sea God Pool" very much. This pool is an outdoor pool. "Poseidon Pool" is 34 meters long and one to three meters deep. The water is still crystal clear to this day and it is quite wide. At that time, there was also a springboard, which could be used for diving, and the water could be heated. Fourteen changing rooms are prepared for the guests.
The front and left side of the "Sea God Pool" are the temple gates composed of ancient Greek and ancient Roman columns, the right side is the green mountain, and the rear is the sea god altar. The Sea God Altar is located on the roof in the backstage, from which you can overlook the entire "Sea God Pool".
At that time, the large estates in the United States had very elaborate gardens, the style reminiscent of the Italian and Spanish Renaissance gardens, and the gardens contained a variety of Mediterranean flowers. Hirst also retained some native oak and laurel trees, which the architect incorporated into his overall plan.
The Sunset Building is a room specially prepared for guests, from where one can imagine the living conditions of Hearst's guests at that time. The furniture used by the guests were originally antiques. This is a place that everyone likes to go to. The sun is rising and the house is warm. After dinner, the guests often come here for small gatherings before watching a movie at 11 o'clock at night. Around the entire castle, surrounded by a wide promenade, Hirst exhibited many exquisite works of art on the avenue, such as statues of Egyptian goddesses with a history of more than 3,000 years, who have lion heads and women's bodies. The Sphinx is a pair of symmetrical stone lions on the left and right, and two Roman stone columns are also symmetrically standing at the rear.
He Palace is the landmark building of the entire ancient castle. From the main altar, you can see the whole picture of He Palace very clearly. Like the other buildings here, the He Palace is made of reinforced concrete, and the surface is covered with a layer of limestone, giving the whole building a block-like structure. The gate of the He Palace is made of Spanish-style wrought iron in the sixteenth century. The top of the door is a modern form of grille, and on both sides of the gate are statues of Gothic people from Spain in the fifteenth century. On both sides of the main palace of Hegong are two column towers, which stand symmetrically on the flanks of the building, which greatly enhances the majesty and imposing manner of Hegong. There are several game rooms on the first floor of He Palace, the library and VIP suite on the second floor, a Gothic suite and study on the third floor, as well as Hearst's bedroom and studio, this floor Both have upper frieze with teak trim. Both towers have electronic carillons controlled by keyboards. The living room is the largest hall in the He Palace. During the day, guests can watch a variety of outdoor activities, such as horseback riding, tennis, swimming, etc.; at night, everyone gathers here, drinking cocktails and chatting. Hearst often entertains VIPs here, politicians, business tycoons, entertainment stars, etc. The famous movie star Marion Davis in the 1920s often played the role of the hostess of the castle. Next to the living room are 15th- and 16th-century choir benches, with Flemish tapestries behind the seats and up to the roof. The 16th-century Italian walnut ceiling features a portrait of Poseidon, and the large mantelpiece comes from the Cathedral of Rue in southern France.
There is only one restaurant in the castle, and guests come to eat at the specified time. The dining table is very long, about fourteen or five meters long, and is a rectangular log table, which can accommodate at least 30 people at a time. San Simeon's ranches, dairy farms, chicken and duck farms, vegetable gardens and orchards provide the castle with food. There are 16th-century French and Flemish tapestries on the walls of the restaurant, which are painted with stories from the Old Testament. The Italian-style wooden ceiling of the restaurant has icons of Catholic saints. Its silver tableware is from the 17th to 19th centuries in England, Spain and Flanders.
In addition, there is a dedicated billiard room and a movie hall. Guests can chat while playing in the billiards room, and they can go directly to the cinema after playing in the evening. The tapestries hanging in the billiards room are French and Flemish in the 16th century. One of the tapestries is "Hunting" and the other is "Hundred Flowers". The ceiling is Spanish in the 15th century, and the Persian colored tiles are in the 17th century.
After leaving the cinema, you will pass the tennis court (there are 2 standard tennis courts), the tennis court is built on the roof of the indoor Roman swimming pool, from the early 1930s, the lighting of the cinema was used to illuminate the tennis court, For the lighting needs of playing tennis at night. The Roman swimming pool is 26 meters long, 3 meters deep, and the shallow area is 1 and a half meters deep. The glass pattern is inspired by the mosaics of the Mausoleum of Galla Placeria in Ravena, Italy. The Venetian glass tiles of the swimming pool are imported from Italy, and many glass tiles have gold leaves inside, and there are beautifully shaped post lights around the pool. Now, the water in this pool has been drained.
After coming out of the Roman swimming pool, the visit is over, and the return bus goes back to the bottom of the mountain. The tour guide told us that almost every tourist made a four-character sigh after visiting the castle: it is good to have money. The author believes that we can have more feelings, such as the charitable donation consciousness of Westerners such as Hearst, such a magnificent, beautiful and valuable castle after the death of the owner is not passed on to the descendants, but left to the public, Admirable. In addition, it would be interesting to compare Hearst Castle with the ancient castles in Europe. We found that one of the common features of these ancient castles is that most of them chose to build places with mountains and rivers. They are also very particular about feng shui; second, they are all built very solidly and reliably, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and have a high defensive value. However, most of the castles in Europe were built by princes and nobles, while Hearst Castle was built by merchants; most of the castles in Europe were built in a concentrated manner, while Hearst Castle was built very openly.
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